As the first national tournament to be hosted by Trent University, the 2010 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Women’s Rugby Championship was an overwhelming success. Over the course of the four-day event held at Trent from November 4-7, more than 1,800 fans attended the games to cheer on Canada’s six best university women’s rugby teams as they competed for the coveted national title.

“You should take great pride that the first CIS Championship hosted by Trent University was very well done,” said Marg McGregor, chief executive officer of CIS. “Feedback from the student-athletes, coaches, and officials has been excellent. The crowd turnout was great, the facilities were impressive, and the volunteers were knowledgeable and warm and friendly. Congratulations.”

Throughout the tournament, the calibre of play was intense with many close match-ups, right up to the gold medal game, which was captured by the St. Francis Xavier X-Women in a thrilling 17-12 overtime win over the Concordia Stingers. This marks the first title match to be decided in extra time in the 13-year existence of the CIS tournament.

After being eliminated from medal contention in the preliminary round, the Trent Excalibur battled Queen’s for fifth place in the tournament. The team put forth a great effort in the first half but were overrun by the Gael’s in the second half, losing 53-5 against the OUA finalists.

Trent coach Nancy Marcotte was naturally disappointed that Trent’s season ended the way it did but expressed confidence that her young team learned valuable lessons about the amount of effort and off-season training that will be required to compete at this level.

The Excalibur will get another chance to compete against the best next year as Trent will once again host the CIS Women’s Rugby Championships in November 2011.

For full details about the tournament, including game recaps, photo galleries and awards, visit the CIS Women’s Rugby Championship website.

Special thanks to all of the sponsors and volunteers who made this event a success. In the words of Brian Greer, co-chair of the organizing committee and athletics recruiter at Trent: “On behalf of the Trent CIS organizing committee I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all those who volunteered their time to make the 2010 CIS National Women's Rugby Championship a huge success. All of the comments I received from VIPs, referees, attending sponsors, student athletes and team officials were extremely positive. I look forward to working with everyone again next year in making this event as well organized and inviting as this one was.”